
NOTE.—The word "astonied" expresses the thought of blank amaze-
ment, mingled with horror, aroused in those who should behold the
Saviour's extreme anguish and suffering.
"He bore insult, mockery, and shameful abuse, until His 'visage
was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons
of men.'
"Who can comprehend the love here displayed! The angelic host
beheld with wonder and with grief. Him who had been the Majesty
of heaven, and who bad worn the crown of glory, now wearing the
crown of thorns, a bleeding victim to the rage of an infuriated mob,
fired to insane madness by the wrath of Satan. Behold the patient
Sufferer! Upon His head is the thorny crown. His lifeblood flows
from every lacerated vein. All this in consequence of sin! Nothing
could have induced Christ to leave His honor and majesty in heaven,
and come to a sinful world, to be neglected, despised, and rejected,
by those He came to save, and finally to suffer upon the cross, but
eternal, redeeming love, which will ever remain a mystery."—"Tes-
timonies," Vol. 2, p. 207.
3.
What will He do to many nations? What will kings do? Why?
Verse 15.
NOTE.—This verse speaks of the results of Christ's humiliation.
"So shall He sprinkle many nations," rather, "startle." The Ameri-
can Revised Version, putting verses 14 and 15 together, reads, "Like
as many were astonished at Thee (His visage was so marred more
than any man, and His form more than the sons of men), so shall He
startle [astonish] many nations." (See margin.) It should be an
astonishing thing that from such an act, the suffering and death of
an innocent person, should come such wonderful results.
"Kings shall shut their mouths at Him," in reverence, as princes
did in the case of Job before calamity came upon him. Job 29:8, 9.
4.
What two questions are now asked? Isa. 53:1.
5.
How should Christ grow up? What is said of His appearance?
Verse 2.
NOTE.—In the Old Testament it was required that the sacrifice
should be perfect, without blemish. Lev. 1:3; 6:6. Concerning Christ's
personal appearance, read "Early Writings," page 172.
It was in the spiritual rather than in the physical sense that the
Jews rejected Christ. If He had come as a prince and received honor
of men; if He had used His miraculous power to free them from the
Roman yoke; if He would even continue to feed them as He had done
with the five thousand, they might have accepted Him.
"For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had waited
the coming of the promised Saviour. Their brightest hopes had rested
upon this event. For a thousand years, in song and prophecy, in tem-
ple rite and household prayer, His name had been enshrined; and
yet when He came, they did not recognize Him as the Messiah for
whom they had so long waited. 'He came unto His own, and His own
received Him not.' To their world-loving hearts, the Beloved of
heaven was 'as a root out of a dry ground.' In their eyes He had 'no
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